Deploy a Website From Claude With One Custom Connector

Claude can write a whole website in one conversation. With one custom connector it can also publish that website, give it an address, connect your domain and keep editing it weeks later, without you downloading a single file. This guide sets up VibeDeploy as that connector in Claude on the web, in Claude Desktop, on your phone and in Cowork, then walks through the first deploy, your own domain, the problems people run into, and what the connector can and cannot do with your account.

What the connector adds to Claude

A custom connector is how Claude connects to a remote MCP server by its URL: a service that gives Claude tools it can call during a conversation. VibeDeploy runs one at https://mcp.vibedeploy.be/mcp, with 40+ tools. These are the ones you will notice first:

• deploy_site and update_site put a site online from the files Claude has, or change some files of a site that is already live.
• read_files, search_files and apply_edits let Claude read what is live and make exact edits to it.
• add_custom_domain and verify_custom_domain connect a domain you own.
• set_forms_config switches on the forms relay, so a contact form emails you its submissions.

Static sites and single-page apps are served directly. A site can also run containers next to it (your own server, Postgres, MySQL, Redis or workers; up to 6 services with 2 CPU and 2 GiB in total), deployed by your AI through the MCP tool deploy_app and isolated with gVisor. Container data is not yet included in snapshots.

The VibeDeploy MCP server page groups the main tools and covers Claude Code, ChatGPT, Cursor and other clients. Working in a terminal instead? From Claude Code in your terminal to a live site sets up the same server in Claude Code.

Before you start

• A Claude account. Anthropic lists custom connectors on the Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. Claude's help center says the Free plan includes one custom connector.
• A VibeDeploy account, or not yet. The sign-in window that opens during setup can create one. New accounts get a 14-day trial without a card, with one site and one custom domain.
• On Team or Enterprise: an Owner adds the connector for the organization first, and each member then connects with their own account. That route is described further down.

Add the connector in Claude on the web

1. Open the prefilled Add custom connector dialog. It fills in the name VibeDeploy and the server URL, and Claude shows a notice that the values came from an external link so you can check them before anything is added. To do it by hand instead, go to Customize > Connectors, click + Add, then Add custom connector, and enter the name VibeDeploy and the URL https://mcp.vibedeploy.be/mcp.
2. Click Continue. Claude reads the server's sign-in settings and shows what it detected.
3. If the dialog asks how people connect, choose Sign in now. Under OAuth client, choose Register automatically. Anthropic marks "Use Claude's published identity" as the recommended option, but it only works when the server supports it, and VibeDeploy registers AI clients through Dynamic Client Registration instead. Leave Request headers empty. If your dialog shows the name, the URL and Advanced settings on a single screen, leave Advanced settings empty.
4. Click Add. A VibeDeploy window opens: sign in, or create an account on the spot. Google, GitHub or Microsoft is the fastest way. If no window appears, open Customize > Connectors and click Connect next to VibeDeploy.
5. VibeDeploy asks "Allow access to your VibeDeploy account?" and lists what Claude may and may not do. A new account ticks the Terms box first. Click Allow.

That is the whole setup. In a chat, open the + menu, choose Connectors and check that VibeDeploy is switched on for that conversation; Claude lets you turn each connector on or off per chat.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop shows the same Customize > Connectors page for your account, so a connector you added on the web is already there, and adding it from Desktop follows the same steps. Even though Desktop runs on your computer, the connection to VibeDeploy runs from Anthropic's cloud.

One thing to skip: claude_desktop_config.json. That file configures local MCP servers, which Anthropic describes as a separate mechanism that Cowork and claude.ai cannot use. VibeDeploy is a remote server; there is nothing to install.

Claude on iOS and Android

Add the connector on the web or in Desktop first. Anthropic says a service you connect there is available the next time you log in to Claude for iOS or Android. Installing connectors from the mobile apps is a beta, with web and Desktop as the main route for custom connectors. Once it is connected, deploying from your phone works the same way: "Publish this as my-site."

Team and Enterprise plans

Members cannot add a custom connector themselves. An Owner, or on Enterprise a member whose custom role includes managing the organization's libraries, goes to Organization settings > Connectors, selects Add, then Custom, chooses Web if asked, enters https://mcp.vibedeploy.be/mcp and clicks Add. Owners can also use the organization install link, which opens the same dialog prefilled. Members then open Customize > Connectors, find VibeDeploy with the Custom label and click Connect to sign in with their own VibeDeploy account.

Publish your first site

Open the chat that holds your site, or ask Claude to build one, and say:

Publish this as my-site

Claude may first show a tool approval request; allow it, and Claude calls deploy_site. That creates the site and answers with the live address, https://my-site.vibedeploy.be, served over HTTPS. Site names use lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, from 3 to 63 characters.

A few details make the first deploy smoother:

• Multi-page sites: ask Claude to include a 404.html. Sites with a top-level 404.html return real 404 pages; without one, unknown paths fall back to index.html, which is what single-page apps want.
• Large sites go up in steps: Claude opens a staged deploy with begin_deploy, sends the files in batches with add_files and publishes them together with commit_deploy. You do not have to manage any of it.
• A sandbox path: if Claude says it saved the site to /home/workdir/artifacts/index.html, that file lives in its sandbox, not on your computer. What that path means explains it; the connector publishes straight from there, so you never need to find the file.

Connect your own domain

Once the site is live, say:

Connect www.example.com to my-site

Claude calls add_custom_domain and replies with a TXT record that proves you own the domain. Add it at your registrar, together with the record that sends visitors to VibeDeploy: a CNAME from www to proxy.vibedeploy.be, or for the bare domain the ALIAS or A record shown on the dashboard's domain page. Wait a few minutes, then say "verify the domain". Claude calls verify_custom_domain, and once the TXT record is found the site starts answering on your domain; the SSL certificate follows automatically, usually within a minute. If the check fails, DNS has usually not propagated yet, so ask again a few minutes later.

The trial includes one custom domain that you already own. Buying a new domain through VibeDeploy needs a paid plan.

Edit the site later, from any chat

The connector belongs to your Claude account, not to one conversation. Weeks later, in a new chat, say "Show me the pages of my-site" or "Change the opening hours on my-site to 9 to 17". Claude reads the live files with read_files, makes exact edits with apply_edits, and the change is online at once.

Every deploy is kept as a version, with a restore point taken before it. An edit you regret is undone in one click from the dashboard's History tab, within your plan's restore window: 3 days on the trial, Solo and Maker, 7 days on Studio, 30 days on Business. There is no restore tool over MCP, so restoring happens in the dashboard.

Claude Cowork: publish a website from a folder

Cowork is Claude working on longer tasks with access to files on your computer. Anthropic lists it on the paid plans (Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise) and is merging it into the regular Claude conversation, starting with Pro and Max. In Claude Desktop you give Claude access to a folder, and it can read, organize and create files there. Your connectors work there too: custom connectors are available in Cowork, and you switch them on from the + menu or under Customize > Connectors.

That makes a short loop from folder to live site:

1. Give Claude a project folder and ask it to build the site there, as plain HTML or as a project with a build step.
2. Ask: "Publish the site in this folder to VibeDeploy as my-site." If the project has a build step, ask Claude to run it first and publish the output folder.
3. Claude sends the files through the connector and replies with the live address. Later changes go out the same way: "Publish the changes to my-site."

For drafts that should not be public yet, Maker and up include password-protected and private sites. Set the site to With a password or Only me in its visibility settings in the dashboard, and the server checks access before any page is sent. A task you start from your phone keeps running in the cloud, but Anthropic notes that tasks using files on your computer need Claude Desktop open.

Troubleshooting

Claude does not use the connector, or says it has no way to deploy. Open the + menu in the chat, choose Connectors and switch VibeDeploy on for this conversation. If it is on and still offers no tools, reload the page; if that does not help, open Customize > Connectors and connect VibeDeploy again.

The sign-in window keeps coming back. Allow pop-ups from claude.ai, sign in once at vibedeploy.be in a normal tab, then connect again. If you added the connector with "Use Claude's published identity" as the OAuth client, remove it and add it again with Register automatically. Anthropic notes that authentication settings cannot be changed after a connector is added; removing and re-adding it is the way to change them.

Your one custom connector on Claude's Free plan is already in use. Claude's help center says the Free plan includes one custom connector. Remove the other one under Customize > Connectors to make room for VibeDeploy, or move to a paid Claude plan.

On Team or Enterprise you cannot add it. Only Owners, and on Enterprise members with a custom role that allows it, add custom connectors. Ask an Owner to add VibeDeploy, then click Connect.

A server from claude_desktop_config.json works in Desktop but not in Cowork or on claude.ai. Local servers stay in Desktop. Add VibeDeploy as a custom connector with its URL instead.

Claude says the site name is taken. Names are unique across VibeDeploy. Pick another one, or, if the site is yours, ask Claude to update it. Changes go through update_site, and deploy_site will not replace every file of an existing site without an explicit confirmation.

Still stuck? Email support@vibedeploy.be with the time and the exact message Claude showed.

Security notes

• No passwords or keys in the chat. Claude signs in with OAuth 2.1 and PKCE (S256). You enter your password, or use Google, GitHub or Microsoft, on VibeDeploy's own page, and Claude only receives a token.
• You see what you grant. Before you click Allow, the consent page lists what Claude may do: create, update and delete websites in your team, connect domains and set up contact forms, run containers next to a site, and read files, deploy history and visitor statistics. It also lists what it cannot do: change your password, billing or team settings, or touch sites outside your team.
• Short-lived tokens. Access tokens expire after an hour, refresh tokens rotate on every use, and a token can make 200 tool calls an hour. A token only reaches the sites of your own team.
• Guard rails on destructive tools. delete_site, and deploy_site on an existing site, are refused unless the call carries an explicit confirmation, and the tools that replace or delete live files are annotated as destructive for your AI client. update_site has no confirmation step and can replace every file of a site in one call, so read its approval requests before you accept them. A restore point is taken before every deploy. A deleted site stops serving at once and can be restored from the dashboard until it is purged at the end of your plan's restore window.
• Site content is treated as data. Tools that return file contents, search results, analytics paths or DNS lookups mark that text as untrusted, so instructions hidden in a page are not followed as commands.
• Your controls in Claude. Anthropic advises reviewing tool approval requests carefully and choosing Always allow only for servers you trust. You can block single tools, such as delete_site or update_site, under Customize > Connectors.
• Revoking. Remove the connector in Claude to end its access. The VibeDeploy dashboard has no screen that lists connected assistants yet; support@vibedeploy.be can revoke access for you.
• Where it runs. Sites, files and containers run on VibeDeploy's own cluster in Belgium. Anthropic processes what passes through your conversation under its own terms.

Sources

• Anthropic Help Center, Get started with custom connectors using remote MCP: plans, "Free users are limited to one custom connector", the steps to add and remove a connector, connections from Anthropic's cloud, local servers in claude_desktop_config.json. Checked 13 October 2026.
• Claude Docs, Add a connector that isn't in the directory: Team and Enterprise steps, the Authentication and OAuth client options, the per-chat toggle, changing authentication settings, blocking tools, security advice. Checked 13 October 2026.
• Claude Docs, Directory connectors vs custom connectors: the prefilled install links for users and Owners. Checked 13 October 2026.
• Anthropic Help Center, Use connectors to extend Claude's capabilities: connectors on iOS and Android and the mobile install beta. Checked 13 October 2026.
• Anthropic Help Center, Get started with Claude Cowork: plans, local folders, connectors in Cowork. Checked 13 October 2026.
• Anthropic Help Center, Claude Cowork and chat are one Claude: the merge into one conversation, folder access in Desktop, tasks started from a phone. Checked 13 October 2026.